The finishing equipment supplier bought the building in April this year but renovations took until September, when the team moved in from its nearby office base.

It recently hosted its first open event on 20 to 22 November to introduce customers to the new building. PBS managing director Steve Giddins said that the company had been waiting for the right building to come along and decided that the 230sqm facility in Carterton, Oxfordshire, would suit his business needs.

Previously, the company had taken clients to see machinery at the manufacturer’s plants, often overseas, or to existing customer’s sites. Giddins said he no longer had to wait for trade shows to demonstrate the latest equipment to potential clients.

PBS commercially launched the Smyth large format sewing machine, previewed at Drupa, and a new Palamides lay flat binder that will be available early next year, a prototype of which was shown at Drupa.

The Palamides can process books with spines up to 420mm wide and 330mm high for on demand production, at speeds of one to 100+ books per hour. The binder automatically sets itself to the size of the book block it is processing, and can record the dimensions for repeat work.

Dave Evans, managing director MGI Technology, which was also exhibiting, claimed that Palamides and the range of Mohawk lay flat papers were complementary to his company’s Meteor DP8700 XL digital printer.

He said: "Given the choice, everyone would rather have layflat photobooks. The Palamides is a very interesting piece of kit for that sector."

MGI was also showing samples from its Jetvarnish 3D spot UV coater, commercially launched at Emballage in Paris the week before. Evans said that he had met with a prospective client at the French trade show who was "blown away" by its quality.

He added that plans are afoot to host an open house at MGI’s Hemel Hempstead base next March, focusing on new options for the photobook industry.